Horticulture products trade losses may rise to Rs 10 billion due to law and order

Horticulture losses might rise up to Rs 10 billion due to the law and order situation in the Swat Valley as it is hindering harvesting and trade of these products, according to initial estimates. Fruit season in the valley starts in May and lasts up to November.
'Hortimage', the newsletter of Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Board (PHDEB), has reported that although Swat losses have already run into billions of rupees, and are still continuing, the farmers are still trying to calculate final cost of damage to fruits (peach, plum, apricot and apple) and vegetables (onion, tomato and other off-season vegetables in the hilly areas) in the affected areas.
Currently, Khwazakhela is the only area which has opened up for trade and peach, plum and apricot have started reaching other parts of the country. Other areas, like Matta and Kabal tehsil and the rest of the areas, are still closed. The return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and partial opening of roads have, however, created a ray of hope for the farmers and dealers of Swat that they would succeed in saving remaining varieties of fruits.
Peach, apple and persimmons can be taken to market if roads open and trade from the area re-starts. Fifty percent of fruits may still be saved if the farmers return quickly, and life returns to normal. Peach variety No 6 has fully matured in the area and is ready for marketing, and must be saved quickly. Half of the fruit season is still available to farmers and dealers, which must be availed to minimise the losses, according to 'Hortimage'.
Fruit dealers have paid millions of rupees to the farmers, like past year, but their produce could not be marketed due to military operation and curfew. Putting the losses in billions of rupees, 120 truckloads used to carry fruits daily from Matta area alone, says Muhammad Ramzan, a trader from Gujranwala.
Another dealer from Rustam area of Mardan, Muhammad Mushtaq, says that he had paid Rs 1.4 million to the farmers, besides spending more than Rs 300,000 on fertiliser, pesticides and irrigation of orchards. Due to militancy, military operations and curfew, fruits like plum, apricots and peach have decayed in the field as they could not be transported out of the area, causing huge losses to both farmers and dealers.
Half of the produce could still be saved if normalcy is restored. He has applied for a permit from the district co-ordination officer (DCO) and is waiting for permission to lift the fruit. During this period, fruits are taken to as far as Peshawar, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Gujaranwala, Gujrat, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargodha, Karachi and other cities, market value of which runs into billions of rupees.
Besides farmers and dealers, thousands of labourers also earn their livelihood by working on these orchards. Approximately, 30 to 40 percent of the area, especially in Khwazakhela, Matta, Kabal and Swat, is covered by fruit orchards that provide employment to 70 percent of local population, which manages spraying, pruning, packing and transportation of the orchards.
Bitter gourd from some areas of Haripur district has started reaching the market. According to Muhammad Ashfaq, a fruit trader, the overall production is very high as compared to previous year. No disease or any other stress has been reported from any part of the province. The crop is expected to continue arriving in the market till the end of November. Fruit fly, one of the major problems in bitter gourd, could affect the quality of the vegetables, if not controlled properly.